Walgreen Co. (NYSE: WAG) (NASDAQ: WAG), the largest drugstore chain in
the U.S., and Alliance Boots GmbH, a leading international pharmacy-led
health and beauty group, today announced that Richard Ashworth,
Walgreens Corporate Operations Vice President for the Western United
States, has been appointed as Director of Healthcare, Health & Beauty UK
and Republic of Ireland (ROI) at Alliance Boots. He will report to Simon
Roberts, Managing Director, Health & Beauty UK and ROI.
In this new role, Ashworth will bring his extensive leadership and
knowledge in health care and will work in close collaboration with the
experienced teams in both countries, to lead the development and
delivery of the health care strategy for Boots in the UK and ROI.
Greg Wasson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Walgreens, said,
“Richard’s two decades of health care experience, leadership and service
to Walgreens in a variety of roles has been invaluable to our company as
we continued to develop our strategy to transform community pharmacy.
His move to Alliance Boots represents yet another step forward and is
further testament to the strong and steady progress we are making in
advancing our strategic partnership.”
Stefano Pessina, Executive Chairman of Alliance Boots, said, “We are
very pleased to welcome Richard to our Group. His appointment further
illustrates the progress we continue to make towards achieving our
vision for the creation of the first global health and wellbeing
enterprise. As he familiarizes himself with the UK and Irish markets,
Richard’s experience at Walgreens will bring positive benefits to Boots
and the delivery of its health care plans, as well as help further
combine best practices of our two companies.”
Ashworth’s appointment further contributes to the Walgreens and Alliance
Boots strategic partnership, announced in June 2012, when the companies
initiated a two-step process that would allow for the thoughtful
integration of the two organizations. The convergence began at the end
of 2012 with the establishment of a joint venture in Switzerland and the
transition of key Walgreens and Alliance Boots executives to that
entity, and continued with the appointment of Alex Gourlay, former Chief
Executive of Alliance Boots Health & Beauty Division, as Walgreens
Executive Vice President, President of Customer Experience and Daily
Living, in August 2013.
As Corporate Operations Vice President for Walgreens since 2011,
Ashworth, a pharmacist, led more than 2,000 locations in the Western
division, where he was primarily responsible for the overall development
and growth of all drugstores and health care points of care. Joining the
company in 1992 as a service clerk, he has held various store operations
leadership positions from Pharmacy Supervisor to Market Vice President.
He was promoted in 2007 to Executive Vice President of Pharmacy Benefit
Management services for Walgreens Health Initiatives, a subsidiary of
Walgreens. In that role, he led sales and client services, clinical
services and health outcomes, provider relations, and the operating
teams. In 2010, Ashworth was promoted to Vice President of Pharmacy
Operations, overseeing the clinical, operational and overall development
of Walgreens pharmacies nationwide and implementation of pharmacy
technology and services.
About Walgreens
As the nation's largest drugstore chain with fiscal 2013 sales of $72
billion, Walgreens (www.walgreens.com) vision is to be the first choice
in health and daily living for everyone in America, and beyond. Each
day, Walgreens provides more than 6 million customers the most
convenient, multichannel access to consumer goods and services and
trusted, cost-effective pharmacy, health and wellness services and
advice in communities across America. Walgreens scope of pharmacy
services includes retail, specialty, infusion, medical facility and mail
service, along with respiratory services. These services improve health
outcomes and lower costs for payers including employers, managed care
organizations, health systems, pharmacy benefit managers and the public
sector. The company operates 8,131 drugstores in all 50 states, the
District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Take Care Health Systems is a
Walgreens subsidiary that is the largest and most comprehensive manager
of worksite health and wellness centers and in-store convenient care
clinics, with more than 750 locations throughout the country.
About Alliance Boots
Alliance Boots is a leading international, pharmacy-led health and
beauty group delivering a range of products and services to customers.
Working in close partnership with manufacturers and pharmacists, we are
committed to improving health in the local communities we serve and
helping our customers and patients to look and feel their best. Our
focus is on growing our two core businesses: pharmacy-led health and
beauty retailing and pharmaceutical wholesaling and distribution, while
increasingly developing and internationalising our product brands.
Alliance Boots has a presence in more than 25* countries and employs
over 108,000* people. Alliance Boots has pharmacy-led health and beauty
retail businesses in nine* countries and operates more than 3,100*
health and beauty retail stores, of which just over 3,000* have a
pharmacy. In addition, Alliance Boots has around 605* optical practices,
of which around 190* operate on a franchise basis, and around 390*
hearing care practices. Our pharmaceutical wholesale businesses deliver
over 4.6 billion* units each year to more than 170,000* pharmacies,
doctors, health centres and hospitals from over 370* distribution
centres in 20* countries.
In June 2012, Alliance Boots announced that it had entered into a
strategic partnership with Walgreen Co., the largest drugstore chain in
the U.S., to create the first global pharmacy-led, health and wellbeing
enterprise.
* Figures are approximations as at 31 March 2013 and include associates
and joint ventures.
Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/multimedia/home/20131105005719/en/
Copyright Business Wire 2013